Typically, gas turbine engines include a compressor for compressing air, a combustor for mixing the compressed air with fuel and igniting the mixture, and a turbine blade assembly for producing power. Combustors often operate at high temperatures that may exceed 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Typical turbine combustor configurations expose turbine vane and blade assemblies to these high temperatures. As a result, turbine vanes and blades must be made of materials capable of withstanding such high temperatures. In addition, turbine vanes and blades often contain cooling systems for prolonging the life of the vanes and blades and reducing the likelihood of failure as a result of excessive temperatures.
Typically, turbine vanes are formed from an elongated portion forming a vane having one end configured to be coupled to a vane carrier and an opposite end configured to be movably coupled to a rotatable disc. The vane is ordinarily composed of a leading edge, a trailing edge, a suction side, and a pressure side. The inner aspects of most turbine vanes typically contain an intricate maze of cooling circuits forming a cooling system. The cooling circuits in the vanes receive air from the compressor of the turbine engine and pass the air through the ends of the vane adapted to be coupled to the vane carrier. The cooling circuits often include multiple flow paths that are designed to maintain all aspects of the turbine vane at a relatively uniform temperature. At least some of the air passing through these cooling circuits is exhausted through orifices in the leading edge, trialing edge, suction side, and pressure side of the vane. A substantially portion of the air is passed into a disc to which the vane is movable coupled. The air supplied to the disc may be used, among other uses, to cool turbine blade assemblies coupled to the disc.
As turbine engines have been made more efficient, increased demands have been placed on the cooling systems of turbine vanes and blades. Cooling systems have been required to supply more and more cooling air to various systems of a turbine engine to maintain the structural integrity of the engine and to prolong the turbine's life by removing excess heat. However, some cooling systems lack the capacity to deliver an adequate flow rate of cooling air to a turbine engine. In particular, turbine vanes often lack the ability to permit a sufficient amount of cooling air to flow through the vane and into the disc. Thus, a need exists for a turbine vane having a cooling system capable of dissipating heat from the vane and capable of passing a sufficient amount of cooling air through the vane and into the disc.